The Green Can

What is the Green Can?

Green Can getting fed at our Annual Pancake Flip-off.

The Pasadena Pacers is a friendly, FREE running club. Well, free to all runners but not free to operate. We’ve got bills like everyone else which means we need to generate all our operating costs from donated dollars. Enter our beloved Green Can.

It’s a green paint can, literally. Green is the color of money and we thought it’d remind Pacers to put some “green” into it every now and again. It’s been around for a long, long while and has worked out quite well so we imagine it’ll be around for a long, long while to come.

Where do the funds from the Green Can go?

In short: operating costs. There’s the website, Pasadena Pacer marketing materials (event tents, banners, etc.), and race entry fees for our coaches, to name a few. (FYI, those snacks at the Saturday runs and water along the routes, NOT provided by the Green Can. Those are donated by stellar volunteers who sign up each week. You can be one of those volunteers—sign up here.)

In case you were wondering, we do not use donated funds to pay our leadership team or coaches—those folks are just super generous with their time and talents. Every dollar raised by the Pasadena Pacers goes back to the Pasadena Pacers.

How can I donate to the Green Can?

Slam some dollar bills (or a fiver, if you have it) into the Green Can at the Pacer Saturday runs. No donation is too small, really. We appreciate every single dollar and try to stretch each one as much as we can.

There are other Pacer clubs out there now—will my donation go to the Pasadena Pacers or some other Pacers?

All funds raised by the Pasadena Pacers stays with the Pasadena Pacers. 100%. While we are excited to grow the Pacer Nation (that’s what we call all the Pacer clubs) as we want to bring health and wellness to every community, each club raises their own funds.

The Green Can, well, it’s just not my thing. Can I donate to the Pasadena Pacers in other way?

Of course. Try any one of these fine methods to give back to the club:

The seat cushion fundraisers, where we tie seat cushions on to seats at the Rose Bowl and then remove them on another visit, happens during football season and raises serious moola.

Our Victory Party (June) let’s our runners show off their shiny race medals and their generosity with our live and silent auctions.

Run a race that provides rebates to the club. Make sure you tell them you’re a Pasadena Pacer. There’s only a few of them each year, so watch Facebook for those opportunities.

Donate larger sums with a check or through your employers (some spiffy companies even match your donations). The Pasadena Pacers is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, charitable organization and donations are tax deductible. See our founder Dr. Smith to hand him a check and watch him tear up.